Outright Thuggery
By If you love the VD Hanson-bashing genre (and obviously we do), be sure to check out Matt’s contribution. A sample:
Rather than view this appreciation, imitation, and innovation as a metaphor for the cultural exchange which has characterized the relationship between Islamic and Christian civilizations just as often as has “clash,” Hanson views this as a form of “parasitism.” This tells you a lot about his approach to the study of history, as well as his feelings about Islam in general. “We” create, “they” copy (and destroy). The fact that it was Muslim learning that turned the lights on and helped to end Europe’s Dark Ages seems not to have penetrated Hanson’s fuhrer’s bunker of a head. I mean, sure, Fibonacci got people to abandon the abacus by introducing Arabic numerals and calculation to Italy, sure our word “algebra” comes from the Arabic al-Jabr, transposition, but who really even uses mathematics any more these days? Sure, Muslims developed the modern university, but when was the last time you heard of anyone “going to college”? What a bunch of parasites.